再次被流放到海南岛上的苏东坡，带着儿子苏过艰难度日，饱受气候的不适及生活的艰难困苦，读来很是让人心酸，彼时苏东坡已六十有余了。
当时的海南岛虽是在北宋统治之下，但地处偏僻，居民多为黎人，不识字，靠打猎为生，秉持着 “女主外而男主内” 的传统。当地人迷信巫医与献祭，远离中原的文明社会。用苏东坡的话可概述为：
We eat here without meat, get sick without medicine, seek shelter without houses, go out without friends, go through winter without charcoal, and through summer without cold springs. I cannot enumerate all the things that we have to do without. In short, we lack almost everything.
此间食无肉，病无药，居无室，出无友，冬无炭，夏无寒泉，然亦未易悉数，大率皆无尔。
恰恰是如此恶劣的生存环境下，才能真正显现出一个人的修养与品行。年迈的苏东坡也正是凭借其得天独厚的乐观精神与不屈灵魂，逐步调整自我以便 “适者生存”，将这种 “被迫退休” 的生活过得风生水起，苦中有乐。
His indomitable spirit and philosphy of life hardly permitted him to lose his joy of living
受不了岛上湿热难当的夏天，苏东坡也会坐在桄榔树下数着日子，盼着秋天的到来（Su would sit in the palm grove counting each day until autumn was come）。这个极富画面感的描写让我们更能感同身受，原来苏东坡亦不过一普通老人也。
因食物短缺，无米下锅，濒临饿死之际，苏东坡居然还能写出一篇有关 “食阳光充饥” 的文章，stopping hunger by eating the rays of the morning sun. 秒想到 “喝西北风” 有木有？细思之下，还真有几分苏的旷达和幽默之感~
好在苏东坡颇有好友近邻之缘，倒也不至真的饿死。
岛上闲暇时光最多，闲不住的苏东坡开始各种尝试：制墨，四处采集辨别各种草药，甚至于每一天都要找人聊聊天。当地居民不识字，没关系，可以聊鬼故事，不知道鬼故事也没关系，就聊聊你所知道的事情……用他曾对弟弟子由说的话来总结，苏东坡可真是一位 “上可陪玉皇大帝，下可陪卑田院乞儿” 的认真享受着每天生活的老者。
最后，摘一句自勉的话：
困厄之中，何所不有？置之不足道，聊为一笑而已。
When one finds oneself in such straits, anything may happen. You just expect it to happen and laugh over it.
Words and Expressions:
The people were highly superstitious, and a medicine man looked after the diseases instead of a doctor.
medicine man，也可写为 medicine woman，可数名词，表示 “巫医，有法术之人”，a person in a Native American tribe who is considered to have the ability to cure illness and disease，与 shaman, witch-doctor 同义；
During conversations he usually took the floor.
take the floor, 表示 “(在会议上)发言，参加讨论”，to begin speaking at an important public meeting；此外，还有 “开始跳舞” 的意思，to go out onto a dance floor to begin dancing；
例句：The chairman then took the floor.
例句：The bride and groom took the floor for the first dance.
联想记忆：have the floor，表示 “有发言权，轮到某人发言”，to have the right to speak at a public meeting；
例句：Everybody should be able to have the floor during the meeting.
The summer months in the tropical island were very trying on account of the dampness, …...
trying, 形容词，表示 “难受的，费劲的，令人厌烦的”，annoying or difficult in a way that makes you feel worried, tired etc；
例句：The whole business has been very trying.
on account of，可替换 because of, 表示 “由于，因为”；
例句：The game was canceled on account of the rain.
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